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December 9, 2009

Escapee returned to Laurel jail

Man who posed as cousin reportedly spotted by Drug Enforcement Agent in Pittsburg area

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Nicholas Whitman, who escaped the Laurel County jail on Nov. 21 by posing as his cousin, also an inmate at the time, was returned to custody this weekend.

Nicholas Whitman was reportedly spotted by a Drug Enforcement Agent in the Pittsburg area, who reported the find to the Kentucky State Police London post.

Trooper First Class Barry Blair was dispatched, picked up Whitman and returned him to the lock-up.

The incident was the result of the attempt to bail out his cousin, Wesley Whitman, by Wesley’s girlfriend.

The girlfriend, Dana Reed and her father, of Big Stone Gap, Va., had come to London to free Wesley, who had been jailed on a three-year-old driving under the influence charge.

Her father, James Reed, reported that he had made arrangements for the release, paid the $709 cost of the bailout and was sent to the rear of the jail to pick up Wesley Whitman when he was released.

He said that as he waited in his car, Nicholas Whitman exited the jail and walked past.

A deputy jailer came to James Reed and reportedly said, “I let the wrong one loose, didn’t I?”

Soon, the area was overflowing with law officers, including state police, he said.

Jail employees told him three times, James Reed said, that they were going to release Wesley. They didn’t.

As a result, Wesley was additionally charged with second-degree escape. The charge claimed that he had “helped in the escape of his cousin Nicholas by allowing him to report to booking to sign a bond to be released.”

In addition to charges of making methamphetamine and trafficking in the drug, Nicholas was charged with second-degree escape.

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